346 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
Watering. —Unlike many other plants, with succu¬ 
lent stems that require little water at times, the balsam 
is a regular toper, especially in fine clear weather. 
No plant shews the want of water sooner, by its droop¬ 
ing leaves and nodding stem; and there is none that 
will thank you sooner for a drink from the water-pot, 
as vigour will almost immediatety assume the place 
of apparent paralysis. These parchings and thirstings 
must not be often repeated, or your labour will go for 
next to nothing. I have been unable to look up some 
observations upon watering balsams with different 
solutions, and coloured infusions among the number— 
using the latter upon clear light-stemmed plants— 
but there is plenty of room for experimenting in this 
direction. We may mention, in passing, that if the 
compost is not very rich, liqiud-manure must be freely 
given; and, as our opinion and practice are required, 
wo would say, that we feel indebted to Mr. Barnes 
for his plan of brewing and fining his manure-water, 
which we generally adopt for plants in pots. Our 
practice is to give the solution weak and often. 
Cockscomb ( Oelosia cristata). —This is a native of 
tropical Asia. Like the balsam, it sports into varie¬ 
ties, but these are chiefly of a crimson, purple, or a 
yellowish colour; the former of which are preferred, 
and the deeper the red, or purple, the more they are 
esteemed. The comb is the receptacle, on the sides 
of which the diminutive flowers are placed. The 
finer the variety, the less freely will it seed. We 
shall chiefly notice the points in which its successful 
culture varies from that required by the balsam :— 
First, Soil. —This should be of a more loose and 
open nature, and not so rich ; well-drained, assisted 
with manure-water and surface-dressings. 
Second, Temperature. —This can scarcely be too 
high, if air and water are attended to, with abund¬ 
ance of light. They are partial to a closish atmo¬ 
sphere, though the combs and foliage should be dry 
before the sun strikes upon them. When growing, 
they will delight in a temperature of from 70° to 85°. 
As the combs approach completion, the temperature 
must be gradually lowered, and then the plants will 
stand several months upon the stage in the green¬ 
house. Towards autumn little water should be given. 
Those who have not sown should lose no time, and 
give them the warmest corner too; a bottom-heat of 
from 85° to 90° will delight them. In growing them 
we have used two methods : the first demands more 
room, and ensures larger plants; the second requires 
less room, and furnishes dwarfer plants, with large 
combs near and overhanging the pot. By the first 
method, the plants are pricked out into small pots, 
and then successively shifted; giving them no check 
until the plants are nearly full-grown, when the 
comb appears, and swells with great rapidity. By 
the other mode, after the plants are shifted into three 
or four-inch pots, and encouraged to fill them with 
roots, instead of being re-shifted, they are allowed to 
get rather stunted, by withholding water, giving more 
air, and a cooler temperature, which starts the combs. 
When they are from a quarter to lialf-an-inch in size, 
the future form of the comb may be detected; all 
pointed ones are discarded ; the plants are carefully 
shifted and re-shifted, and kept growing vigorously; 
tire object being to throw that vigour into the comb, 
instead of the stem and leaves. By both methods 
all side-shoots are removed when the plant is young, 
whenever they present themselves. 
Globe Amaranths (Gomphrena globosa) is a 
native of India, and very pretty when well-grown; 
requires soil similar to the cockscomb, and not so 
rich as the balsam, but with a good proportion of 
[March 28. 
leaf-mould. It requires more heat than the balsam 
when growing, and not so much as the cockscomb ; 
though both it and the cockscomb, when fairly started', 
will get on as small plants in a window. When the 
plants are fully grown in a hotbed, and gradually in¬ 
ured to it, they will ornament a greenhouse for several 
months in summer and autumn. Seeds should be 
sown in a hotbed directly. 
Browallia —so named after a bishop—is a pretty 
genus of plants, with blue, white, and lilac flowers, 
from South America. In addition to being sown in 
a slight hotbed, and potted and re-potted into light 
sandy loam, and watered frequently with weak 
manure-water, the common treatment given to the 
greenhouse plants in summer and autumn will suit 
them. The orange-coloured B. Jamesonii we have 
not seen bloom as yet. R. Fish. 
HOTHOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
Stove. Plants. — There are other plants besides 
orchids in our stoves, and as we know that many of 
our readers wish them to be noticed occasionally, we 
purpose doing so every alternate week with the 
orchid culture, now that we have published the prin¬ 
cipal ground work of the latter. Even our orchid¬ 
growing friends will find these papers useful, as 
there are numbers of stove plants that associate 
with, and thrive well amongst orchids. We have 
frequently mentioned in the orchid papers that such 
and such orchids thrive well, or even better, in a 
common stove than in the house more especially set 
apart for their habitation; so, vice versa, there are 
several stove plants that enjoy the atmosphere and 
flourish better in the orchid house than in the stove, 
especially during the growing season. We make 
these preliminary remarks to shew that instructions 
in the culture of orchids and stove plants will be 
useful and interesting to cultivators of either of these 
great families of plants. It only remains, then, to 
mention the method by which we shall perform our 
pleasant task. We shall first describe such really 
good, though old, stove plants as have handsome 
foliage, fine showy flowers, and bloom with good 
management freely; and, occasionally, we shall 
deviate a little, whenever a new fine species comes 
under our notice. We have a wide field before us, 
for the number of truly splendid plants, natives of 
warm climates, requiring the heat of the stove is very 
great. 
We might very properly here describe the best 
kind of house for these plants, but we think it better 
to defer that to a future opportunity, passing it by 
with this remark, that the nearer the plants are to 
the glass the stouter they will grow, and the more 
freely they will flower, and the colours of the blooms 
will be brighter. 
Of the families of plants that are the most splen¬ 
did in bloom, that have fine foliage, and are every 
way worthy of cultivation, we shall commence with 
the genus 
Ixora. —It always seems to us somewhat pedantic 
to mention the reason why a plant is so called, yet 
as all kinds of knowledge is desirable, for a wise 
man has said that “ knowledge is power,” therefore, 
we suppose it will be useful to know the reason why 
these really fine plants are called by the family name 
Ixora. Well, then, this plant is a native of Malabar, 
in the East Indies; the inhabitants have a god named 
Ixora, and as they admire (for even savages, as we 
